Ocean Ice
by Ireth-Tasartir
Summary: Rikku, in training for Sorceress, is attacked by a fiend, but there is something familiar in the fiends eyes. Can it really be that one she once loved with all her heart?RR
1. The White Vihur

Rikku paced across the glossy forest of Macalania, the glimmering mist floating lazily around her young figure, the pale light reflecting upon her hair in streaks of watery bliss and moon silver, giving the woman a wave of pirefly multitone. However Rikku's spiraling eyes, her green emeralds reflected nothing of the calm and bliss that floated upon the crystaline athmosphere, and the sensation of sacrecy was replaced by the shadow of the most unbearable pain. Rikku's forehead was frowned with concentration as she attempted to remain the folds of her long, bright blue skirt, menaining as silent as possible. Her hand was white from the pressure of holding her short staff, and the pale, icy blue jewel on it's top was glimmering with a hazy mist that blended in with the glimmer of the crystal trees. Her left hand was crossed upon her chest and holding the folds of her pearly white shirt, nervously staring at the areas of the forest. 

"nobody told me the task of becoming a Sorceress required so much risk!" she mumbled in a sweet, yet low whisper.

The sound of her voice was pleasant to her ears, as she imagined her words were directed to an inexistent companion. Rikku had began her training as sorceress, and her teachings at the Magick and Sorcery University, situated in Luca, had finished. Now, during her last year out of the five that took becoming a full time Sorcerer, her learnings had expanded torwards the practical area. She could handle magick well, however she was forced to journey to different areas of Spira, where she would preform a certain number of spells in front of a High Sorcerer or Sorceress, and receive a title if they considered the student worth the priviledge.

Rikku's steps had taken her to Macalania, where a Tower of Sorcery had been built. That was the place where the High Sorcerers lived and decided if the new Sorcerers deserved their titles. They were enormous buildings of various forms and colours, depending on the magick habilities that stood out in their core, wether it was ice, fire, bios, darkness, light, water, thunder, etc. A Sorceress had to know the theory of the different spells, and be able to handle them in battle, at least the basic ones, like Thunder, Thunda and Thundaga. If one wasnt able to control those basics, no title could be given.

Rikku took a deep breath, in the far distande a peak glimmered with the bright light of a sun that timidly sneaked past the ceiling of blazy leaves, of pure crystal and magickal nature. A small, nervous smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as she obseved the first diamond glitters of her destination.

"the Tower of Ice!" Rikku murmurred at the sharp peak that crowned the building.

Taking a step forwards, putting little care in leaving the forest undisturbed, distracted by her bliss at the found destiny, the tip of her fingers pressed againts a fine leaf, which cracked and whistled like the sparkling wings of faeries. She ignored her false step, seeing as nothing seemed to ocurr and confident that the distance was way too short to have something ocurring to her in such infime time. 

The powerful head raised at the feeble sound of a cracking leave, the unnaturalpressure releasing a trail of notes very different for the sensitive ear. Dark blue eyes glimmered with anticipation, and a spiky tounge licked the correous lips in delight upon the expectation of a meal. His clawed paws stepped upon the forestry foliage silently, accomodating to the form of the soils so no sound would be made. Powerful muscles rippled under the peraly white scales, and the sun reflected upon it's surface like a mirror. The difracted light sparkled on the hard scales of the male reptilian giving his thick skin a tough of blueish and violet highlights of pale brilliance. 

"a meal, it was about time, I'm starving" he thought walking slightly faster, his stomach rumbling with anticipation.

The animal's legs released him into a trot, the area of the sound coming closer, "the path" he thought with his tounge lolling out, and his flashing eyes wide open with observing instinct. The reptilian leapt and emerged from the forest, breaking through the glassy branches and leaves which crackled and shattered with a magickal melody of crystaline fragments dancing with one another, hugging and kissing with the passion of lover. The sun reflected on each fragment and difracted into a glimmer of falling star, of powder of pixies, or the flakes of thin ice blown by wind. Such welcoming sounds were interrupted and deaffened by the thundering roar of the hungry beast, the booming sound that echoed in the depths of his red throat.

Rikku looked up in time to see the beast pouncing upon her, the powerful body, no larger than a dog's, the clawed paws, the sharp and thick tail, the murderous fangs dripping with drool. Rikku gasped, her emerald eyes widdening. She raised her staff high and pointed it at the beast as a reflect act, "BLIZARDA!" she yelled at the winds, concentrating all her power on the white beast. Her voice floated like a melody upon the leaves, across the woods and the sparkling glass, until reaching the Tower of Ice, where it faded into the misterious depths of magick.

Before the beast could react to the spell, a great gust of frozen wind rushed across his body, tearing through his hard scales, hurting him and puncturing him with furious fangs. He shut his eyes tightly and curved his body, a canine whine of intente pain echoed in his throat, and his body collapsed on the ground a couple of metres away from the woman. He felt the pain of the collision, and numb thud that bloomed from his body, but he ignored all that as his mind swam across mild flashes of memories that crawled through his mind.

"you...you're a Vihur, but you are white!" she gasped pointing at the beast, her breathing laboured, her skin pale and her heart thumping laboriously at the shock received.

The Vihur shook his head and his legs pulled his body up, still confused, still shocked by his bad luck, and the feeling of a thousand burning needles penetrating his body still alive in his mind. His blue eyes oppened to observe the target, and his tail fell with deception.

"a Sorceress? I've been about to eat a sorceress! That's my luck!" he thought with a deep sigh, a grumble booming in his throat numbly as his eyes made contact with the woman's.

"you...you are the most beautiful creature I've ever seen!" Rikku said in a mild voice as she stared, transfixed, at the beast standing before her.

"wait a minute...she's...it cant be!...she's an Al-Bhed, an Albhed Sorceress? I thought they only worried about those metalic things they call Machina!" the Vihur thought tilting his head.

"I've never seen a pair of eyes like yours, so much like an Al-Bheds, yet not spiraled!" Rikku told the Vihur smiling lightly, feeling unnaturally confident with this animal.

The Vihur raised his head and frowned lightly, confussion very obvious in his reptilian features.

"what is she doing? Why doesnt she attack me? All two leggers do! She's not afraid of me!" the Vihur thought confused, blinking slightly and raising his head.

"but wait!" Rikku whispered to herself frowning slightly, "I do have seen eyes like yours! Five years ago!" she exclaimed taking a step forward.

The Vihur recoiled shocked, "what? Oh! You do want to hurt me? Pity! I was hoping to make this a clean conffusion" the beast thought standing on the tip of his fingers, shocked and slightly scared at the Al-Bhed's sudden move.

The Vihur, acting bu pure instinct, leapt forward torwards the Al-Bhed sorceress, frightened that she might try to work an spell on him again, after all, she did attack him. Rikku, shocked at the unexpected reaction of the fiend, took a leap backwards, "no! Thunder!" she gasped shocked pointing at the beast with the staff. A current of electricity flashed briefly in the athmosphere, glimmering against the glassy beings, yet it failed it's goal as the beast hit Rikku's arm with his one clawed paw.

Rikku fell to the ground under the weight of the animal, falling with a painful thud on the hard soils of the path. Her eyes oppened wide and stared directly at the animal's blue ones, recognition glimmering in her own depths. Rikku was surprised she was so calm under such serious circumnstances, her body so still and calm while she felt the hot breath of the Vihur floating against her skin.

"it's you! Big Meanie!" she gasped shocked, yet her heart's pain and darkness being washed away by the tides of reliefe, happiness and disbelief.

The vihur raised his head, remembering somehow having heard this same sentence, insult, being thrown at him, that voice. He leapt back from Rikku's body and crawled back to a position under a tree, next to a crystaline trunk, where he observed the woman. He saw a sequence of images, of past memories or something he couldnt really put his finger into, flashes of colours, of people, of places he had seen but never been into, rushed across his mind. It had happened before, but never with such intensity, and the brightness and speed of such thoughts made him dizzy and made his head hurt.

 Rikku stood up with some effort, her back pained from the contact of the hard floor against her bones, yet a somewhat bright smile lit up her shaded face. She dusted off the pale skirt and looked up at the animal, the Vihur staring curiously at her. The beast narrowed the bony eyebrows as flashes of her face appeared before him, yet not the mature and grown up woman in front of him but a young, cheerful Al-Bhed with a ponytail and strands of golden hair falling upon her forehead like silk. He remembered her.

"Rikku!" he growled with some effort, yet the saurio's voice was of a gentle tone, a rumble filled with the young voice of a man.

"it is you!" Rikku gasped smiling with delight at the recognition.

The Vihur smiled, he had managed to pull his thoughts and memories together, he had managed to remember who he had been...before becoming a fiend. He took a step torwards the girl, an attempt to reach his old time friend, to access that which he had lost and now recovered. Rikku oppened her arms to greet the beast, but suddenly a sharp pain stabbed her heard and the world blacked out for her. She fell into a heap, unconcious, next to her a slender Vihur of the tipical sandy colour stood by her, smelling the creature with disgust.

"NO!" the male Vihur gasped and galloped torwards the fallen Sorceress.

He sniffed at her anxiously and sighed with reliefe, "she's alive!" he gasped shaking his head pleased that the woman had not lost her life in the hands of a second Vihur.

"good thing I was here to protect you, Newby, how could you let yourself be surprised by a Sorceress?" the second Vihur inquired, staring at the white Vihur through her amber eyes, her head raised in pride.

"Rasha! She was not attacking me, I know her!" the white Vihur barked at Rasha, narrowing his eyebrows and emmiting a deep growl.

"you know a Sorceress Ocean Ice? PLEASE! That was the most pathetic excuse I've ever heard

"Ocean Ice...that was not my name!" Ocean said absently, staring at the infinity of nothingness, looking at the figure and smiling dreamily. Rikku had always been the most beautiful creature for him, even more so now, dressed in that attire of a Sorceress in training, and laying down as if sleeping.

"yeah, whatever..." snorted Rasha with disgust, staring at the woman and her companion as if they were something only Chimeras would put their dirty paws on.

AN: Ok, a beggining of a short story, was trying to make this a single shot but I think I might as well stop here and split it into a few chapters. How do you like it? I was searching for something like this but, since nobody had the idea I decided to work at it myself. Hope you like. Please, read and review.


	2. Legend of Eternal Love

Rikku's eyes fluttered oppened, the fascinating spiral appeared to the world, and inmediatly narrowed even more than they were as the sun flashed into her orbs brightly. She shut then wincing in pain as she felt a throbbing ache beating at her head, and the itching sensation of the sun shining bright. She groaned and turned around to evade the sun, then upon a second attempt to focus onto vision, she managed to view the scarred and fresh shadow of a stone wall, a construction of stone that engulfed her. A cave. Rikku's eyes shot open at the strangeness of the situation, and a loud gasp escaped her throat realizing she was laying on a bed of straw, the skirt was slightly raised, and her shirt was scratched.

Ocean heard the gasp and raised his head, his attention had been drawn from his prey, and it, seeing the beast about to leap on it, bounced off into the safety of some thorny bushes. The Vihur shook his head and turned around quickly, galloping torwards the cave where he lived, and where his friend had been placed to rest her wound.

Rikku gasped shocked as the beast emerged from the low slope and penetrated the cave, his white for shinning brightly in the dim morning light, and his blue eyes glistening with worry and delight upon seeing the woman awake.

"feeling better?" he inquired worriedly in a growl.

Rikku yelled at the Vihur as he emerged, shocking her, her first thought was to release a powerful spell against it, yet her hand never found the staff. Rikku realized it was on the far corner of the cave, laying there all together with her light shoes, and her thought was that most likely the Vihur would eat her before she managed to reach the staff. Ocean, upon seeing her intentions, trotted closer to the woman and focused his eyes in her, the eyes that once revealed his identity, a knot in his reptilian stomach upon acting so quickly and worriedly to catch Rikku's attention, to being recogniced again.

"Rikku, it's me! Have you forgotten me already?" he barked gently, vocalicing as well as he could to make himself understood.

Rikku frowned slightly and relaxed as her forehead wrinkled in concentration, memories of the past day flashing back to her, the Vihur, the blue eyes, those blue eyes she could see in this fiend, staring at her right now with so much concern and...care. The Sorceress took a deep breath and smiled releasing it, feeling comfortable once more with the white fiend. She was confused at the fact that this beast had suddenly gained the hability to speak, however deduced it might had been due to remembering his origins, because he remembered.

"Tidus!" Rikku said with a pleased smile.

The Vihur smiled at her through his fanged mouth, yet Rikku was able to recognice it was a pleased smile of gentleness, of ecstatic joy, yet a somewhat calmer care, his eyes shinning brightly. That had been his name, Ocean Ice now, yet he'd rather be called by his old human name, Tidus. There was Rikku, his best friend, calling him Tidus, remembering him for who he had been, nor the beast he became.

"what happened to you? You were supposed to be a dream!" exclaimed Rikku staring at the beast, trying to see the coherency in the strange situation.

"I was a dream, but nobody sent me anywhere, and anyways I was so attatched to the world, to this life, to my friends, that I didnt want to leave, so I guess I reincarnated in a fiend!" Tidus explained looking down with shame and sadness.

"Yuna!" Rikku muttered not displeased but with a tone of deception, of sadness floating in her voice, a gentle ripple of her melodious voice that was not there before.

"hu? Rikku, I...er......um...never mind!" Tidus looked up at her alarmed, however he resigned, no, this was not the time to confess the truth of his heart, not in this form, Rikku never ought to know.

They walked along the woodlands of Macalania, and sat by the lake to watch the pireflies float lazily across the timid fluids, dancing with their bright colours and their intense lights. Tidus layed next to her, his head resting on his powerful arms and his blue eyes closed and he inhaled the humid and fresh scent of the night.

"it's odd!" Rikku said all of a sudden, basicly lost in her train of thoughts, staring at the infinity of the wondrous scenery.

Tidus raised his head and oppened his eyes confused, "hu? What?" he inquired curiously, yet slightly concerned at her distraction.

"I...I started this journey to become a Sorceress, to be someone else, and to ease my pain through forgetting it, and then..., well..., I found you!" she explained, turning her face down to stare at the fiend.

"Rikku I..." Tidus started yet his sentence of speechless incoherency never came to an end.

"I missed you!" Rikku snapped all of a sudden and engulfed the beast in a tight hug.

Tidus could feel, through his akward situation and his blushing scales, that the girl's body convulsed through strangled sobs, and the humid feeling of a salty tear slipped past his scales. His paw carefully patted the girl's back and he smiled weakly, feeling his heart beating faster, and feeling that layed asleep regrowing in a burning flame.

"I missed you too...but, are you crying?" he inquired, staring worriedly at the blurry figure too close to him to focus.

"I thought you were dead. I could never imagine meeting you again, dont you understand Tidus? I loved you! I love you!" Rikku explained through strangled sobs, staring at Tidus' figure through her puffy, red eyes, a blurry vision of a white Vihur staring at her with concerned blue orbs.

Tidus recoiled and became very stiff at her words, his heart seemed to have stopped beating, yet he knew his reptilian cheeks were filling with blood. He smiled simpatheic at the woman and shook his head, through his shattering heart, through the stabbing pain he was giving himself.

"Rikku, I beg you, dont love me ok? It's never gonna work!" Tidus explained trying hard to hide his emotions through his collapsing integrity.

"of course!" Rikku snorted, her face becoming far from serious very angry and a somewhat betrayed tone of voice occupied her cheerful glee, "I should have known, Yuna!" she snapped before standing up and retreating to the forest.

"Rikku? Where are you going?" Tidus barked at her, standing up very alarmed, no, it was Yuna, he had forgotten her, it was just himself, his Vihur self.

"I have a journey to finish!" Rikku yelled back very serious, her voice dry, but the rippling of a sob echoing with each tone.

"but...you'll be back, right?" Tidus inquired alarmed, afraid his friend would never return to him, frightened that this misunderstood situation would push her apart from him forever.

Rikku, shocked, turned around, her eyes softening, her hard featured becoming mild and calm once again, yet a shadow of despair covered her face like a veil, "no Tidus, I wont come back!" she snapped dryly.

Those words said she vanished into the depths of the forest, engulfed by the bright darkness, by the watery athmosphere that was the Macalanian woodland. Tidus lowered his head in despair, sad, feeling more lost and depressed than he had ever felt before, he was stuck as a fiend and had lost the most important person of his life.

Rikku, not caring about keeping the fiends away by mantaining her steps silent, trashed across the forest, making leaves rustle, branches crack and twigs chim musically as she paced in her fury. Tidus rejected her clearly for her friend, for Yuna, a woman that had forgotten him and was happily married and with a child in the present time. Rikku had remained faithful to his memory, her love had burnt until consuming her soul, and he still preffered the Summoner that once had fallen for him, but who quickly stood up to go on.

The leaves rustled strongly next to her, breaking her off the angry thoughts that flashed red in her mind. The Al-Bhed rolled her eyes and focused her gaze on the point where the rustling came from.

"Tidus, dont follow me unless you want me to practice my magick with you!" Rikku snarled angrily.

A deep growl answered her furious yell, a sound that came from the depths of the forest, deep and angry, and the dripping of drooling became perceptible to her. Rikku's blood froze, that was deffinitely not Tidus, the growl was too deep, the drooling threatened something large, and hungry.

"oh no...Tidus?!" she inquired, trying to reach her voice in order to ask for help.

The branches exploded in a dance of glimmering glass, the leaves cracked and shattered, the world froze as the beast emerged in the form of a fury, the fury of a behemoth. The enormous beast towered over Rikku, a fanged mouth drooled with anticipation, the bulk of muscles was large like a shupaff, yet this animal's carnovor's instincts were a threat to her life.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH, STOP!" she commanded working out an spell to give her time to race for safety.

The behemot recoiled slightly, yet broke through the spell, being unaffected by it due to it's strong deffenses. He snarled with cruel delight and worked it's way torwards the woman, ready to strike with full force, to destroy and enjoy the warmth of fresh and young meat and blood. Rikku, pale with fright and frozen with terror, stood rooted on that same place, thinking as quickly as she could, working all the spells that could have saved her life. She found none, and the cold gust of wind that froze her interiors with it's increasing pressure told her that there was no rescuing from this beast, there was no way she would survive.

A pale blurr leapt from behind her and landed agily on the behemot's face, slashing across it's eyes with the sharp claws. The white being landed in front of Rikku while the enormous beast trashed about, blind, dripping blood in streams, unable to recover himself from the terrible pain and the intense frustration of not being able to see. The creature stopped all of a sudden, his nose sniffed about until catching the strange and intense scent of the woman, the gentle smell of an Al-Bhed girl. Tidus knew that, he was a fiend after all, and he knew he had to stop it with whatever he had in hand right now, and that was himself.

"my life to you Rikku!" he barked at the woman and smiled to himself, he would give his life for her if neccesary, not to demonstrate anything but because he felt that way.

"NO!" Yelled Rikku as the Vihur started running at full speed torwards the enormous behemoth, her delicate hand extended as if to stop him, her paralized body recovering all movement.

Tidus leapt forwards and landed on the beast's muzzle, where he bit his nose until it bled to keep all scents blocked by the flooded nose. He crawled across the thick skin and slip down until it's neck, a soft area from the thick skin that covered it's whole body. Tidus sank his fangs upon it's throat, hoping to tear the very important vein from the neck, wishing to save Rikku from the beast, and feeling as well very brave and very scared.

The Behemot, feeling the paing stabbing his throat, feeling his breathing blocked and the fluid drowning his breathing conducts, trashed about hoping to get rid of the small and annoying beast that attempted to destroy him. As a last resort he did something none were expecting, and that was letting his weight fall upon the little fiend. Tidus' bones crushed and cracked upon his weight, his organs were badly damaged and every little inch of his body was burning with an intense pain. The behemot, feeling the little creature under himself, slapped it and threw it aside.

Tidus fell on the floor like a rag doll, still alive, yet completely motionless, his bones broken, his lungs filling with blood, and his heart beating to hold back the pressure. He oppned his bright blue eyes, it's light diming, and smiled at the fallen beast, laying exhausted on the floor.

Rikku yelled at the whole scene, and ran torwards the fallen Vihur, where she kneeled to hug him, to save him, to aid him somehow, she could not loose him again, not now.

"Tidus!" she screamed staring frightened at the terribly looking fiend.

"Rikku...it was not Yuna!" he said coughing with effort and spitting blood, it had to be said, it was now or never, she had the right to know.

"what?" Rikku inquired confused, tears streaming down her cheeks in continuous fall, warming her flesh with it's salty fluid.

"it was you...I love you Rikku!" Tidus explained gasped for air, trying to stay alive for as long as to finish.

"shhh, it's ok honey, you'll heal, and we will find a way, ok?" Rikku sobbed lightly, trying to stay calm, placing a hand across the beat up body and feeling the shattered bones and the pumping blood released through the broken vessels.

Tidus smiled, "run!" he gasped and coughed up a bit more, through his mouth escaping a bucketfull of blood, his lungs, unable to resist any more, bursted and all the vital fluid was released to be lost in the chaos of matter.

Tidus' body moved no more, the Vihur was lost in a shinning glimmer as the pireflies that formed it glowed in the body's depths, yet never escaping the beast, always sticking to earth, to the life, to his love. Rikku shut her eyes tightly and clenched her fists, sad and furious at once.

The young woman's eyes flashed open, and they flamed with rage, glaring at the behemoth,who was starting to recover, and was ready to stand up and struck at the woman for a final hit, to enjoy the meal that so much effort was taking him. But Rikku wouldnt let him, not this time, never, her love had been taken from her again, now it was time to recover that which belonged to her.

"FINITE VITAE!" she yelled concentrating the intensity of her magick on this final spell, her most powerful spell, a one use spell, for the caster will live to see it only once, such was it's power that it drained the energy of the Sorceress.

The behemoth stared at the sorceress in wonder, tilting it's enormous head to one side, yet inmediatly it convulsed and collapsed on a heap, a deep moan escaping it's lips with the life rushing out of it's drying veins, it's spirit being pulled from it's body, leaving an empty carcass with no life.

Rikku upon finishing her spell also collapsed, ending on top of the Vihur's crushed body, of her lover's body, her exhaustion was great and all energy had left her body, it was only a matter of seconds.

"wait for me Tidus, I'm coming, my love!" she sighed with a calm smile crowning her lips.

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" And this is the place where they fell!" a red haired man said pointing at the two crystaline trees, two intewined trunks that somehow had managed to form the shape of two lovers interlaced, ther legs crossed, two arms high, touching, and over them, a cascade of leaves.

"really? And what happened to their souls? Did they live forever in the Farplane?" the young girl inquired, her black eyes flashing with anticipation.

"well, villagers say that sometimes, at night, the figure of a young Sorceress and her faithful Vihur can be observed walking through the forest, and that, during full moon, if you go to the lake, you will see a dance of pireflies and, in the water, a man and a woman of golden hair swimming and sharing the love they could not share in life!" the man explained patting the girl's reddish brown hair.

"did you know them dad? Did you?" the girl inquired leapping nervously up and down.

"no, I didnt, or dont remember, but I know someone who did, I'll tell you when we get home!" the man said pushing the girl gently in the direction of the path.

"Chappu honey, come on!" called a tall woman with black eyes, bright brown hair and a little baby in her arms.

"I'm coming!" called the man.

A last look into the forest gave him the vision that had brought him here in the first place, the young Al-Bhed Sorceress and her faithful Vihur, the Zanarkand citizen, Tidus. Chappu smiled and waved at them. Both figured, crowned with a golden halo from the light trespassing their ethereal figured, waved back, the Vihur raising his head as a greeting.

"oh dad, wait till I tell you I've seen them, your friends, Rikku and Tidus, wait till I tell you that the legend is true!" gasped the man excitedly.

He too then retreate through the path, leaving the two lovers to share their feelings, to live their love to the intensity, to prove the world that love can survive through the barrier of death, that it can remain alife through the eternal times.

End

AN: there it is, I hope you liked t because I, personally, liked it. I got inspired when I was playing my game today so I hope it's good enough, at least for a short story. Please, leave a review and tell me what you think.


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